After a good but short sleep Saturday night, up at 4:30 am to hit the road and head to the Fredericton area to meet up with our guide Matt Nason of Nason Guide Services on the shore of the Saint John's River. Last Fall we fished with Matt trolling at night for trophy striped bass, landing a 42 inch, 30 pound striped bass.
Today our target was short-nosed sturgeon, the smallest of Canada's sturgeon species, adults typically reaching 3 to 4 feet in length.
Once at our first spot it did not take long to hook into our first sturgeon, a decent sized young adult. We continued fishing our first spot and after around 10 sturgeon ranging in size from 12 to 36 inches, we decided to move in search of larger dinosaurs.
- FH jim sturgeon 1.JPG (109.44 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH Bob sturgeon 1.JPG (128.58 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH baby strugeon.JPG (75.82 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH CFN sturgeon.JPG (129.02 KiB) Viewed 102 times
Our next spot the fish were not as active but it did produce a few nice fish, including a fat 41 inch fish and a 44 incher, the longest of the day. Our next spot produced a couple more fish, before calling it a day, boating 15 sturgeon for the day. Another awesome day fishing the Saint John's River, with an awesome guide in a very nicely laid out Princecraft.
- FH jim sturgeon 2.JPG (132.81 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH Bob big sturgeon.JPG (122.68 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH sturgeon close up.JPG (41.2 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH waiting for dinosaurs.JPG (99.21 KiB) Viewed 102 times
While we were out fishing we got word that the gaspereau fish (aka alewife) were running not too far from where we were, so after saying good bye to Matt we were off to go check out the gaspereau run.
After a 30 minute drive we arrived at the area where the gaspereau were supposed to be running, nothing at the first spot we checked, but down the road we spotted a few vehicles and decided to check it out and found a spot with lots of fish and a few people dip netting them. So we grabbed our net and Bob put on his waders, to try some dip netting for gaspereau in the rapids.
- FH gaspereau 3.JPG (122.8 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH gaspereau 1.JPG (153.75 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH gaspereau 2.JPG (82.46 KiB) Viewed 102 times
- FH gaspereau bags.JPG (194.97 KiB) Viewed 102 times
After a bit of netting gaspereau we headed for our hotel for the night. The next morning we hit the road for the 12 hour drive home.
And that is a wrap, another great trip to New Brunswick.... great fishing.... great scenery.... great people!!!
Already looking at another trip this October for striped bass and muskie and another trip next spring for striped bass, salmon and trout..... anyone interested???